Spelling - My ADD/ADHD Child has Difficulty with Spelling

By Stuart Ackerman  MSc.Ed.,B.A.

     Children with ADD and ADHD often have trouble remembering  information and spelling rules taught in class.  Since many ADD/ADHD children are boys, and many boys are visual learners, you can use visual learning strategies to help your child learn to spell.  In other words, a student who is a visual learner, will have difficulty learning how to spell by both hearing the spelling of the word and even by practicing writing it out twenty times.

     Your ADD/ADHD child can learn to spell by associating visual images with the concepts that are being taught.

     There are several ways you can help your child become better at spelling.

1.      Tell your child to use his/her eyes like a camera.  Tell your child to take a picture of the word, close his/her eyes, and try to still see the word.  Ask your child what color the word is.  Have your child use his/her finger to write the word in the air while keeping his/her eyes closed.

2.     One of the biggest problem areas in spelling is with    homophones (words that sound the same but have a different spelling and meaning e.g. their and there). Have your child draw a picture beside the word (whether you are working with homophones or not, this can work for any word).  This will stimulate your child’s visual memory.  Simply ‘connecting’ a picture with the word will increase your child’s chances on spelling the word correctly in the future.

3.     Provide your child with word-family lists.  For example, give your child a list of words that begin with ‘ch’.  Make sure that there are a few pictures of words that begin with ‘ch’ beside the list.  This strategy will help your child  associate words (i.e. ‘ch’ words) with similar spelling.

4.      Finally, buy some good spelling flash cards at your local educational store.  My sons learned how to spell using these types of cards.  Good flash cards have the correct spelling of a word accompanied by a colorful picture.  This is perfect for visual learners!  You can have your child play the game ‘concentration’ with the flash cards to make the learning experience more fun and productive.